Hot Topics:

Robert Keith and Chris Stanley: Lung cancer awareness

Posted:
11/25/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

November is a busy month for awareness campaigns. It is both Lung Cancer Awareness and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease month. Both diseases rank in the top three causes of death in Colorado and both are primarily caused by smoking. For the nearly 600,000 Coloradans living with a lung condition, access to information is critical. Death rates in Colorado from chronic respiratory disease exceed the national average. The more access people have to information, the more lives we can save together.

The American Lung Association's Lung HelpLine (1-800-LUNGUSA) helps thousands of people living with lung conditions every year. Created in 1999, the mission of the HelpLine is to provide professional answers to people who have questions about lung conditions including: lung cancer, COPD, asthma, allergies, smoking cessation and environmental health.

The Lung HelpLine promises a live conversation with no limits in duration and frequency. People who call the Lung HelpLine will speak to a live medical expert for as long as they need, and if the call center staff can provide a personalized packet of information by mail, they will do so at no cost. The Lung HelpLine also offers assistance for smoking cessation.

Our medical staff members are trained to effectively communicate with callers from diverse backgrounds with full-time bilingual specialists and the ability to assist callers in more than 150 languages and dialects. Each caller is treated as a unique individual and is provided with compassion, knowledge and support completely free of charge.

Advertisement

The Lung HelpLine has undergone an independent quality control assessment by a major university that showed 96 percent of callers were satisfied with the level of service they received. With that kind of success, it's no wonder the Lung HelpLine is viewed as a valuable resource to residents in our state that helps people with lung conditions every day.

Funding for the Lung Helpline is made possible by the generous support of donors. For those who wish to support the Lung Association with donations, special event participation, advocacy or as a volunteer, please contact the American Lung Association in Colorado. The Lung HelpLine, as well as the American Lung Association in Colorado can be reached at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or by visiting LungColorado.org.

ROBERT KEITH and CHRIS STANLEY

American Lung Association in Colorado, Board of Directors, Denver and Englewood, respectively

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story